Dow Jones Led By Goldman Sachs, But Sellers Still Dictate The Action

Sellers were in the stock market again Friday, but the major stock index were off session lows. Top stocks in the Dow Jones today included Goldman Sachs (GS), up 1%. On the Nasdaq, Costco(COST) stock was a big earnings winner, up 5%.

In late-afternoon trading, the S&P 500 cut its decline to around 0.5%. The Dow Jones today and S&P 500 gave back 0.3% to 0.4%. Volume on the NYSE and Nasdaq was tracking lower than Thursday's levels.

The stock market was spooked early on news the economy created a paltry 20,000 jobs in February, well below the consensus estimate of 175,000.

Headed into Friday, the Nasdaq showed four distribution days in the past six trading sessions. Increased signs of institutional selling like this can stop a market rally in its tracks, so it's important to monitor The Big Picture column every day.

Dow Jones Today

In the stock market today, other notable movers in the Dow Jones today included Exxon Mobil(XOM). Shares fell around 2% early amid soft oil prices but shaved some of that loss. U.S. crude oil futures for April delivery dropped 1%% to $56.11 a barrel.

SPDR Gold Shares (GLD) gapped out of a cup with handle, a bullish base pattern, on Feb. 19, but the breakout stumbled quickly. The exchange traded fund gapped up Friday, but GLD is still below the 50-day moving average.

Lululemon Athletica (LULU) lagged in the IBD 50, down more than 3%. A cup with handle is looking less appealing as the stock tests support at the 10-week moving average.

Elsewhere, small cap Upland Software(UPLD), one of many strong performers in IBD's enterprise software group, broke out powerfully on strong earnings.

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